Mud Lake, Idaho, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Mud Lake, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Mud Lake lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Mud Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Mud Lake — the short answer
Mud Lake, Idaho: USDA zone 4b, about 138 days between hard freezes, across 91 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~138
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 91 acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 4b is Mud Lake's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Mud Lake's 138-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Mud Lake
Each reading below is measured for Mud Lake itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMud Lake runs about 138 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredMud Lake sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country Mud Lake is in
Mud Lake sits in the Snake River Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider North American Deserts. That is read at Mud Lake's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jefferson County.
What Grows in Mud Lake
Every plant below cleared Mud Lake's own zone 4b and its 138-day season. Each card opens that plant's Idaho profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Mud Lake?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 12; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 25 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Mud Lake
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Mud Lake. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 06N 34E 17DDC1Nitrate · 75 ft
- MUD LAKE EXXONUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- MUD LAKE RSUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- DON BURTENSHAWUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- CARL D. JOHNSONUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- WILLIS J. BLAINEUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- STEVEN L CHERRYUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- Chad Holdaway FarmsUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- BRUCE SMITHUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- MUD LAKE SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- JEFFERSON COUNTY ROAD & BRIDGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- MUD LAKE MTCE YARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Mud Lake's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Mud Lake.
Total Sites
145
within ~10 miles of Mud Lake
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Mud Lake
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Mud Lake
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Mud Lake, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 112 sites within ~10 miles of Mud Lake. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Mud Lake
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Mud Lake average
Your land is one point inside Mud Lake
Everything above resolves to Mud Lake as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 91 acres. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at city scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Mud Lake Average
Mud Lake Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Mud Lake
- ●One soil character for all of Mud Lake
- ●Frost dates read at Mud Lake's scale: May 10 to Sep 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Mud Lake's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Mud Lake
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Mud Lake, Idaho — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Mud Lake averages can't show:
We read public map data around Mud Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Mud Lake average
How we know this about Mud Lake
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Mud Lake’s own record; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Mud Lake
When does frost risk typically end in Mud Lake?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Mud Lake typically lands around May 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about May 31.
When is the first frost in Mud Lake?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Mud Lake typically arrives around Sep 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 11, so the watching starts about Aug 26 — about 138 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Mud Lake?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Mud Lake sees about 138 frost-free days — roughly May 10 through Sep 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 31 to Sep 11, about 103 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Mud Lake?
The federal record around Mud Lake is a meaningful one — 145 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (112), the nearest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Mud Lake?
With about 138 frost-free days between hard freezes, Mud Lake rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 166 to 194 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 10 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Mud Lake's scale — its 4b band and its 138-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Mud Lake's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Mud Lake’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Mud Lake's own scale — its own ~138-day season between 28°F freezes, the 91 acres it covers and 145 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Mud Lake's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Mud Lake's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 10 and Sep 25 and the ~138-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 145 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Mud Lake, the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Mud Lake's boundary and the 91 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~138-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Mud Lake's own centroid, the Snake River PlainUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Mud Lake's 91 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jefferson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jefferson County
- The growing challenges every Idaho grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Idaho
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Jefferson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Mud Lake's 91 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Mud Lake you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 91 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Mud Lake-wide figureread your own land →